Black people 'four times more likely to die with coronavirus'
Black men and women are more than four times more likely to die a coronavirus-related death than white people, new analysis suggests.
Black males in England and Wales are 4.2 times more likely, while black women are 4.3 times more likely to die after contracting the virus, after accounting for age.
People of Bangladeshi and Pakistani, Indian, and mixed ethnicities also had an increased risk of death involving Covid-19 compared with those of white ethnicity, the Office for National Statistics found.
The analysis looked at how coronavirus has affected different ethnic groups from March 2 to April 10, registered by April 17.
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It has been widely reported that black and minority ethnic (Bame) people have been disproportionately affected by Covid-19, with a range of reasons being put forward by scientists including genetics, deprivation and inter-generational households.
Recent analysis by the Express & Star showed 35 per cent of people in Wolverhampton – more than one in three – are from a Bame background, while 16 per cent of the population were born outside the UK.
In Staffordshire, the figure for people from Bame backgrounds is just 6.4 per cent, which could go some way to explaining why hospital death rates are higher in the Black Country.
As ethnicity is not recorded on death certificates, the ONS linked these to the 2011 census which includes self-reported ethnicity.
The ONS said the results suggest that the difference is partly due to socio-economic disadvantage and other circumstances, but some of the reasons remain unexplained.
After taking account of other factors, such as health and disability, black men and women were 1.9 times more likely to die with Covid-19 than those of white ethnicity.
Bangladeshi and Pakistani males were 1.8 times more likely, and Bangladeshi and Pakistani females 1.6 times more likely, than white people when these factors were accounted for.
The ONS found increased mortality rates due to Covid-19 for all ethnic minority groups, except for in Chinese women.
Overall, 83.8 per cent of the deaths occurred in people of white ethnicity, with black people making up the largest minority ethnic group, accounting for 6 per cent of the overall deaths recorded within the date range, the ONS said.
The ONS said a "substantial part of the difference in Covid-19 mortality between ethnic groups is explained by the different circumstances in which members of those groups are known to live, such as areas with socio-economic deprivation".
It continued: "Geographic and socio-economic factors were accounting for over half of the difference in risk between males and females of black and white ethnicity.
"However, these factors do not explain all of the difference, suggesting that other causes are still to be identified."
It said some individuals may have different socio-economic characteristics that were not included in the ONS model, which could explain some of the difference.
It also suggested that some ethnic groups may be "over-represented in public-facing occupations" and therefore more likely to be infected.
Milkinder Jaspal, a councillor and former Wolverhampton mayor, said: “In the Bame community, they are dying more than other groups.
“The truth is no-one really knows why but in some Asian families they live with three or four generations. The genetic make-up may be another aspect.
“We really need to explore and find out why coronavirus has hit the black and ethnic community harder.”